Laurie Daley keen to receive advice from selection panel

by jspasaro

Josh Spasaro
Sports Journalist

I spent four years in country newspapers before taking on a dream role of covering national and international sports news across the entire APN network, in early 2012.
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I am now the envy of all my friends and family members, now that I have the privilege of covering Origin, Bledisloe Cups, footy grand finals and other top international sporting events.
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NEW South Wales coach Laurie Daley will not have a shortage of opinions on how to snap Queensland's seven-series winning streak next year.

Last year's Blues coach Ricky Stuart will join him and Bob Fulton on the selection panel, while his large team of assistants already includes Brad Fittler, Trent Barrett and Matt Parish.

Blues legends Glenn Lazarus and Steve Roach also helped Stuart prepare his troops last year, and Daley has indicated he would be keen to use the advice of past players.

But the former champion Raiders five-eighth denied the Blues' coaching set-up has become an old boys' club, with Daley to relish a diversity of ideas in his first term as NSW coach.

"I enjoy having a range of ideas around me and it's a good learning experience.

"You soon see which opinions are the right ones," he said.

As well as not having a shortage of helpers, Daley will even get to see up close what makes some of the Maroons' biggest names tick when he coaches the Indigenous All Stars against the NRL All Stars at Suncorp Stadium on February 9.

Last year's Indigenous All Stars team included Queensland drawcards Greg Inglis, Justin Hodges, Johnathan Thurston and Sam Thaiday, with Daley's team losing 36-28 to his Wayne Bennett-coached opposition.

But Daley won't be withholding any secrets from his Maroons players leading up to the pre-season blockbuster.

"I don't need to hold anything back - it's more me understanding how the players want to play and how I adapt to that," he said.

Daley also denied his time at the helm of the Indigenous All Stars would compromise his preparations for next year's Origin series.

"It hasn't been too bad (with the Indigenous All Stars' preparations). Everything has been put in place already, so it's just been a matter of me working around that," he said.

The three-time premiership winner with the Raiders also said he would have an Emerging Blues squad identified by the end of this week.

While Daley said time wasn't an issue with his preparations for the All-Stars and Origin games, it isn't something Brisbane Broncos star Jharal Yow Yeh has on his side.